


No Bunny Ears

by JoyasVoladoras



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: BroFic, Gen, Kid!Harry, Kid!Liam, Kid!Niall, Kid!Zayn, brother, kid!louis, zianourry brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 04:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1373467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyasVoladoras/pseuds/JoyasVoladoras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paul just wants to take a family picture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Bunny Ears

“This is stupid.” Niall’s arms crept across his chest, folding over one another. The pale thirteen year old stared at his toes, bright blue eyes studying the carpet beneath them.

“Shut up, Niall,” Zayn growled at his younger brother from his spot on the couch, his dark eyes were focused on the screen in front of him, fingers working rapidly over the controller he grasped with ease, “It’s not like complaining is going to keep us from doing it.” 

“I dunno,” Harry piped in from his spot at Louis’ feet, his back pressed against his older brother’s legs, “It’s kind of a tradition, innit?”

“Yeah,” Liam cut in, looking up from his book. He was sprawled out on the floor in front of the television, his feet swinging in the air occasionally, annoying Louis and Zayn, who were in the middle of shooting what looking like Nazis, “We do it every spring, guys. We’ll regret it if we miss a year.”

“I won’t,” Louis grumbled, cursing as his health lowered in the game, “It’s not like any of us really want to do it.”

“But pa wants to. So we will.” Liam’s voice held authority, which wasn’t uncommon. The fourteen year old was pretty much the only responsible one out of the five boys. He made sure they didn’t break themselves or each other. “It’s just a picture, Niall. Don’t complain. This means a lot of Pa. You know he doesn’t get to do a lot with us anymore.”

Niall didn’t respond, leaning back against the couch. He sighed, pulling his toes out of the carpet, drawing his knees up to his chest. Harry, who was sitting a few feet from him, offered him a small smile. Niall couldn’t help but smile back at the ten year old. However, their small moment was interrupted by a controller colliding with the back of Niall’s head. 

“That’s bullshit! He was dead!” Zayn cursed again, just as Niall recovered from the blow. His face flushed, as he grabbed the first item he could find to chuck at Zayn. However, before it could leave his hand, Louis had snatched the item away. 

“What the hell, Niall? That’s my phone!” The seventeen year old practically snarled at his younger brother as he grabbed one of the pillow beside him, smacking Harry in the back of the head with his knee as he chucked the pillow into Niall’s face.

“Ow! Lou what the hell?” Harry shot up, his fists balled as he moved to leap on the older boy. Just as a full blown brawl was about to break out, a deeper voice echoed through the room. 

“Boys! Enough!” their father stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips, “Seriously? I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re already tryin’ ta kill each other!”

“Zayn chucked his remote at my face!”

“Not on purpose!”

“Niall almost threw my phone!”

“Lou kneed me in the head!”

“Boys!” The room silenced, “apologize to one another so we can leave.” The room filled with grumbled ‘sorry’ and ‘didn’t mean to’. Paul smiled at them. Even as teenagers they still acted like scolded children. He rolled his eyes fondly, grabbing the camera off of the mantle, “Come on. If you don’t mess up the pictures I’ll take you all out for ice cream.” That, unsurprisingly, worked as well as it did when they were children.

While the boys raced outside, their father took a moment to walk down the long hallway leading to their backyard. Paul Higgins had adopted the boys when he found out he couldn’t have children of his own. Liam was the first to come, at only four years old. He was quiet, and sweet, with manners that made you want to coo and pinch his cheeks. Then came Niall, who was giggly and always happy, with his slurred Irish brogue that didn’t fade as he aged. He was going to stop at two, he really was; but a year after he met Zayn, who stole his heart the moment he clambered into Paul’s lap, clutching at an old Batman comic book he had hoped Paul would read to him. Six months later brought Louis, with his wild imagination and crooked smile. And then Harry, who always needed someone to hold him, or kiss him, or tickle him. Harry, who made sure Louis behaved and Liam misbehaved. The little baby of the family that nobody could help but love. 

Paul smiled fondly as he walked down the hall, looking at every picture hung up on the wall. Birthday parties, school pictures and vacations all hung up in mismatched frames. At the end of the hall, a large collection of frames hung in rows. Their spring picture. The first one was him and Liam. Then the next one with Niall, then Zayn showed up in the next one, and then Louis and Harry. Each one documented the tiny (and massive) changes his boys went through.

“Dad,” Harry’s head popped through the door, “Are you coming?”

“Yeah, Haz, sorry,” Paul smiled at his youngest.

“Quit being so slow, we want ice cream,” the curly head disappeared. Paul shook his head. The littlest of the five had always been a bit pampered. But he was cute enough to pull it off. And sweet enough after being a brat for you to always forgive him.  
The five boys cheered when Paul walked out of the house. With a roll of his eyes, he set up the camera on top of the BBQ, like he did every year. He set the timer and ran over to his sons, letting five warm arms envelop him. 

“Hey, can we stick our tongues out?”

“Get your tongue off of me, you freak!”

“Zayn! Get your foot off of my book!”

“Your book shouldn’t be on the floor!”

“Dad! Louis just bit my shoulder! Ow fu-“

“Zayn! Get your finger out of my ear!”

“Ten seconds boys,” Paul grit his teeth. He loved his boys. He really did. But sometimes he had to remind himself. As the beeping from the camera quickened, he felt the boys settle around him. He smiled, biting out through his teeth, “Louis if I see a pair of bunny ears you’re not getting ice cream.” He couldn’t help but chuckle when he felt a hand shift behind him. Flash. 

“Now,” Liam smiled, moving away from his brothers, grabbing his book off of the ground where he had dropped it, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Dad!” Harry’s voice was shrill, “Niall just licked my face!”

“Oi!” Paul turned to look at his sons, a look of disapproval on his face, “Save it for the ice cream. Let’s go, you idiots.”

The five of them whooped and hollered, wrestling their way into the house. Paul shook his head, grabbing the camera. He flipped it over, pressing the review button. Frowning, Paul called out into the house _“Louis! I said no bunny ears!”_


End file.
